. A REVIEW OF THE GANDHI 
MOVEMENT IN INDIA 


BY 


W. .H: ROBERTS 
Pe ns 


REPRINTED FROM POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY 
VoL, XXXVIII, No. 2, JUNE, 1923 


NEW YORK 
eg ay: PUBLISHED BY THE 
wha ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 
1923 


A REVIEW OF THE GANDHI 
MOVEMENT IN INDIA 


BY 


Wi ti ROBERTS 


REPRINTED FROM POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY 
VoL. XXXVIII, No. 2, JUNE, 1923 


ae 


NEW YORK 
PUBLISHED BY THE 
ACADEMY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 
1923 


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CAC MGY fk a Rea 


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A REVIEW OF THE GANDHI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 


followed upon the arrest and imprisonment of Gandhi, 

affords a convenient point from which to review the 
extraordinary movement of which he was the inspiration. 
For the first time it seems possible to estimate in a broad way 
its permanent results. 


if Hi apparent lull in Indian political agitation which has 


Non-Cooperation 


Though “Indian unrest” has a long history and presents a 
multitude of aspects, it will be sufficient for our present pur- 
pose to go back only to the early months of 1920, and to trace 
the action of but three main forces—the Khilafat Movement, 
Hindu unrest, and the “Reforms.” The state of mind in 
India at this time was one of suspense. Theterms of European 
peace, so far as Turkey was concerned, had not yet been 
decided. The delay had afforded time for a formidable agita- 
tion to develop which demanded the restoration of the Sultan 
of Turkey, Khalif of Islam, to his pre-war position. This 
movement gained strength and confidence from the obvious 
hesitancy of the Allies in grappling with the Turkish problem. 
Certain expressions of Englishmen and Americans, which it 
was easy to interpret as hostile to the Turks and to the Mo- 
hammedan religion, were circulated throughout India with ap- 
propriate comments, and tended to exasperate already strained 
and tense feeling. It was openly preached that loyalty to 
religion took precedence over loyalty to the Government, that 
support of the Allies against the Turks had been a grave 
error and sin, and that, if Mohammedan demands on behalf 
of Turkey were not met, the Government could no longer 
count upon the loyalty. of its seventy million Mohammedan 
subjects. A notable deputation waited upon the Viceroy to 
acquaint him with Mohammedan feeling, and another deputa- 
tion was sent to England to confer with the Premier. The 


Hindu community was awaiting the decision of the Government 
224 


228 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vou. XXXVIII 


with reference to the ‘‘ Punjab Atrocities” of the preceding 
year. The Hunter Committee, appointed to inquire into the 
whole affair, had not yet published its findings. There was 
tension everywhere but also the recognition that the time for 
action was not yet. In the meantime the Government adver- 
tised with might and main the “Reforms”. Officials were 
jubilant over their success in piloting the measures through 
Parliament. Ata meeting of the Imperial Legislative Council 
in Delhi the Viceroy exclaimed: 


The present is indeed a critical time in the world’s history, when 
every nation which hopes to maintain or advance its position in the 
community of civilized States must stand firm by its traditions and set 
up a bulwark of sanity and moderation against the forces of disorder 
and destruction. In India I see no grounds for pessimism. There 
may be clouds in the sky but the shadows they cast are relieved 
by much that is bright.* 


Among the replies, that of Sir Surendranath Banerjee is 
notable. In his younger days he had been a fierce and implac- 
able opponent of the Government. His eloquence, more than 
any other factor, had aroused Bengal to political consciousness. 
On this occasion with reference to the Reform he said: 


My Lord, the proclamation announces the birth of a new era. It 
says, ‘©a new era is opening. Let it begin with a common determi- 
nation allowing my people and my officers to work together for a 
common purpose.’’ In so far as the educated Indians are concerned, 
we shall loyally carry out that mandate and I am sure that the officers 
of Government and representatives of the European Community will 
do the same. For good or for evil, for good as I believe, Indians and 
Europeans have got to live together in this country as fellow citizens of 
a common Empire. Let us live together in peace and amity, in the 
cultivation of those friendly relations which alone make for our mutual 
advantage and our mutual prosperity. We, the educated Indians, 
are prepared to extend the hand of fellowship to the servants of 
Government, to the representatives of the European Community. 
I ask them to grasp it with alacrity. We are prepared to make 
the first advance. Are they prepared to reciprocate the sentiment and 
do likewise? 


1 India in 1920. 


No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 229 


In March it became evident that Mohammedan hopes would 
not be realized. A little later the report of the Hunter 
Committee was published. This report pleased no one. 
Indians felt that the punishment meted out to the guilty 
officers was utterly inadequate. Europeans felt that in punish- 
ing them at all the Government had betrayed men to whose 
firm and decisive action in a critical time it owed an immense 
debt. The controversy was carried on in the Press and in 
Parliament with most regrettable bitterness and Hindu feeling 
was more than ever outraged. When Gandhi, the Hindu 
leader,* announced his support of the Khilafat movement, the 
Government found itself confronted by a new and portentous 
force in Indian History—Hindu-Moslem Unity. 

Although Gandhi succeeded in merging the two streams of 
discontent, it was not for some time apparent what character 
the new movement would assume. The Ali brothers, Khilafat 
leaders, favored open rebellion and warfare. It was only by 
convincing them that this was hopeless that Gandhi won their 
reluctant and temporary adherence to his program. They 
were frankly skeptical but agreed to try ‘“ Non-Cooperation”. 
If it failed, they reserved the right to fall back upon the tradi- 
tional reliance of their faith, to call for rebellion and war. 
Henceforth the Ali brothers and Gandhi worked in concert. 
A stranger contrast can scarcely be imagined than the appear- 
ance upon the same platform of Shaukat Ali, big, brutal, 
fanatic, with conflict and slaughter suggested in every speech, 
and Gandhi, studiedly undramatic in manner and speech, plead- 
ing for endurance of suffering, sacrifice, brotherliness, self- 
discipline, and love even for the enemies of his people. 

The two men fairly represented the ideals of the communi- 
ties for which they spoke. Of Shaukat Ali we have said 
enough. In Gandhi were gathered all those traits that Hindus 
passionately adore. He was an ascetic. He moved about in 
the world but he lived in God. In comparison with God 
nothing else was real to him; beside duty nothing else was 
important. Yet he was no gaunt, repellant figure, such as one 


1 After the death of Lokamanya B. G. Tilak. 


230 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [V0Ot. XXXVIIE 


often sees hideous with ashes, with matted hair and with 
madness in his eyes. Little children were happy in his smile. 
His gracious manner and simple friendliness were for rich and 
poor, outcaste and Brahmin alike. He was insignificant in 
appearance but his simple gesture hushed turbulent assemblies. 
Wherever he went, vast crowds listened with awe to his quiet, 
unimpassioned speaking. His invincible courage, his complete 
indifference to approval or abuse, his uncompromising adher- 
ence to what he believed his duty, the austerity and purity of 
his daily life, his devout piety, exalted him almost to divinity 
:n the minds of his followers. Tales of his miraculous powers 
were readily believed and his denials were soon lost or for- 
gotten in the worship of three hundred million devotees. 

He preached a gospel even more amazing than his person- 
ality. It was a message of renewed self-respect and regenera- 
ted manhood, of freedom and a future of spiritual slory for 
India. Not by warfare was this to be won. Indeed freedom 
so won would not be worth the cost. Real freedom could 
come only from moral regeneration. His people must put 
away weakness, timid servility, deceitfulness, sloth, every form 
of moral impurity, and put on courage, honor, self-respect, 
industry. So equipped, they could assert themselves and their 
mere assertion would be irresistible. They had only to refuse 
to cooperate with a government that would not meet their 
desires, and that government, though fortified with all the 
resources of materialistic science, would find itself powerless. 
Especially must all forms of hate be replaced by love. Against 
a love that had no limit and was strong enough to endure all 
things, the utmost malice and oppression must soon succumb. 
Then would come victory. And India so freed need fear none 
but would lead the world to yet undreamed-of spiritual con- 
quests. 

The program laid down by which this vision was to be made 
a reality was probably the most extraordinary that has ever 
proved a really powerful force in politics. In brief it was one 
of gradual withdrawal by the Indian people from all coopera- 
tion with their European masters. It was a “strike ” on the 
vastest scale yet conceived. Government servants were to 


No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 231 


resign their posts, lawyers their practices, students were to 
leave their schools and colleges, notable individuals were to 
discard their titles and honors. When the time was ripe, if the 
British Government had not heeded the people’s protest, labor- 
ers were to refuse their labor to foreign employers. Foreign 
manufactures were to be boycotted—especially cotton cloth. 
To fill their place industries must be developed within India, 
especially the once nearly universal art of spinning and weav- 
ing. Lastly, obedience to laws and payment of taxes were to 
be refused. Thus a political and economic independence 
would be established. The whole activity could be success- 
ful only as it was carried on absolutely without violence and 
even without bitterness. Once self-control were lost, once the 
Indian people failed to maintain the highest standard of 
conduct, the cause would be lost. It was by self-discipline, in- 
flexible resolution, and triumphant spirituality alone that any- 
thing could be achieved. 

All this of course demanded a complete moral regeneration. 
The Government, as it felt its grasp slipping, would try in every 
way to goad the people into violence. It was only a morally 
purified nation that could stand the strain. Men and women, 
therefore, even children, must purify themselves. Moreover 
the guilt of a great sin rested as a deadly blight upon Hindu 
society. Sixty millions of ‘‘ untouchables” were denied the 
elementary human rights. Until this was changed and “ un- 
touchability ” abolished, India would not deserve her freedom 
and would not be fit to use it if it were won. 

Of such a personality, such a gospel, and such a program it 
is difficult to write in the ordinary language of political science. 
They were all so utterly different from the political forces with 
which we are familiar. In fact the movement could scarcely 
be called political. The very youngest and least experienced 
recruit of the ‘‘ Bureaucracy”, just out from England, could 
point out absurdity after absurdity and the practical impossi- 
bility of the whole scheme. For this very reason the Govern- 
ment long underestimated the power and the peril of the 
agitation. It seemed impossible that any considerable number 
of men could attach themselves to such a fantastic program. 


232 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vot. XXXVIII 


Gandhi was primarily a saint. He openly confessed that his 
political thought was derived from the Sermon on the Mount. 
Because India is India, peculiarly sensitive to religious appeals, 
the movement spread beyond all expectation. Of the causes 
that rendered its failure inevitable I shall have enough to say. 
At this point I wish to insist upon the overwhelming grandeur 
of the ideal. Gandhi’s vision of a revolution to liberate three 
hundred million people, achieved not through war or violence 
but primarily through a moral regeneration, is surely one 
of the most magnificent that was ever opened to human aspira- 
tion. And it could not have been resisted by the most stu- 
pendous accumulation of materials of war. Had his people 
been capable, spiritually capable, of such a program as Gandhi 
demanded, they would have been irresistible, and no one 
could have denied them the spiritual leadership of the world. 


The Muhajrin 


We must turn aside here from Gandhi and his gospel to note 
a dramatic incident that is of interest apart from its somewhat 
sensational character for the light it throws upon prevailing 
conditions and the mentality of the people. When Indian 
Mohammedans realized that they were powerless to assist 
Turkey, many felt that life under British rule was no longer 
tolerable. Their thoughts turned naturally to the nearest 
independent Mohammedan sovereign, the Amir of Afghanis- 
tan. About eighteen thousand zealots sold all their belongings 
and in long caravans streamed through the passes on the 
Northwest Frontier to place themselves under his protection. 
The first to arrive were welcomed; but the hospitality, of a 
rugged country and a stern people was soon exhausted. The 
pilgrims could only retrace their weary journey. Old men and 
children died by the way; and those who reached home found 
themselves impoverished for the remainder of their days. 


Successive Failures | 
Gandhi’s appeal to office-holders and to the rich and power- 
ful was disappointing in its results. There were doubtless 
many who sighed like the rich young ruler of the Christian 


No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 23% 


Gospels as they contemplated the prospect of heroic renuncia- 
tion and spiritual high adventure; but “men of substance” 
have certain common characteristics the world over. Sub- 
stance held them. Only an insignificant number cut them- 
selves loose. The wheels of government rolled as ponderously 
and smoothly as ever. 

The next appeal was to the students; and the great ‘‘ Student 
Strike” like the WZuhajrin, deserves attention for the light it 
casts upon the character of the whole movement. The schools 
and colleges of India, the students were told (and let it be 
noted, with some justification), were institutions for the culti- 
vation of “slave mentality.” Let them come out from them. 
In new, ‘“ national” schools they would be trained to robust 
manhood and service of the “ Mother.” 

The response was overwhelming. There was no hesitation 
here. Experienced and thoughtful elders had turned away, 
but the students thronged in great crowds to: place themselves 
at the disposal of India’s ‘‘leaders” for the service of their 
country. Parental authority, prospects of a career, ordinary 
prudence or timidity, all counted for nothing. The youth 
of India with glowing zeal and high courage pressed on to the 
great adventure. It was a magnificent spectacle. Lovers of 
India were exultant. Great meetings were held, speakers were 
moved to impassioned eloquence, and large sums of money 
were promised for the new schools. It was as though men, 
long confined in a stifling prison, had just drawn their first 
breath of pure, outdoor air. 

In a little more than a fortnight nearly all the students were 
back in their schools and colleges. 

A great system of education cannot be built inaday. Even 
a great school requires years for its distinctive ideas and tradi- 
tions to develop and mature. The vision of a ‘‘ national edu- 
cation,” drawing its inspiration from the greatness of India, 
training up erect, alert, masterful yet reverent spirits was, like 
the vision of the Revolution, a splendid one. But, when those 
who had drawn and colored it were called upon to make it 
more than a vision, and actually to provide for the thousands 
of young lives that had so generously entrusted themselves to 


234 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor. XXXVIII 


their guidance, they were lost. They could provide only a few 
ill-equipped and precariously financed institutions. They could 
offer only the same old subjects less efficiently taught. The 
one new subject in the curriculum of the national schools was— 
spinning. It was not an encouraging nor an inspiring prospect 
to those whose hopes of very livelihood were at stake. 

As one looks back upon this pitiful squandering of youth's 
priceless offering, it is plain that the whole movement originated 
in a very superficial and immature estimate of the situation; 
that it owed its progress to unscrupulous promises by the leaders 
and the credulity and emotionalism of the student class; and 
that it was wrecked by incompetence to erapple with its prac- 
tical problems. In every one of these aspects it was typical 
of the larger movement of which it formed a part. 

The Duke of Connaught’s visit at the end of the year did 
something to lessen the tension. There were hartals, or pub- 
lic displays of mourning, in some of the large cities through 
which he passed; but these were only partially successful. 
The reluctant manner in which the Non-Cooperation leaders’ 
mandates were obeyed seemed to indicate a weakening of the 
public interest in Gandhi and his teachings. The royal tour 
had for its carefully prepared climax the opening of the 
Chamber of Princes, at Delhi, on the oth of February, 1921. 
A scene which might have passed into the annals of India 
merely as a splendid pageant, was rendered memorable by the 
appeal of Britain's representative, who was also Victoria's son. 
Conscious of the triviality of all visible pomp and of the in- 
stability of all Governments that are founded upon aught else 
than loyal consent and justice, the aged Duke pleaded for that 
spirit of understanding and cooperation that alone could make 
Government of any sort possible. 


Since I landed [he said] I have felt around me bitterness and estrange- 
ment between those who have been and should be friends. The 
shadow of Amritsar has lengthened over the fair face of India. I 
know how deep is the concern felt by his Majesty the King Emperor 
at the terrible chapter of the events in the Punjab. No one can 
deplore these events more sincerely and more intensely than I do 
myself. I have reached a time of life when I most desire to heal 


No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 235 


wounds and to reunite those who have been disunited. In what must 
be, I fear, my last visit to the India I love so well, here in the new 
capital, inaugurating a new constitution, | am moved to make you 
a personal appeal, put in the simple words that come from my heart, 
not to be coldly and critically interpreted. My experience tells 
me that misunderstanding usually means mistakes on either side. As 
an old friend of India I appeal to all of you—British and Indians—to 
bury along with the dead past the mistakes and misunderstandings of 
the past, to forgive where you have to forgive, and to join hands and 
to work together to realize the hopes that arise from today.’ 


In 1921, the second year of the struggle, we have to notice 
the increased emphasis upon the boycott of foreign cloth, the 
raising of ten million rupees to finance the movement, and the 
growing menace of lawlessness. 

The shift from a political or educational to an economic agi- 
tation was hailed by the opponents of Non-Cooperation as a 
desperate effort to recover a rapidly diminishing prestige and 
revive a waning interest. Friends of the movement, however, 
declared that it was merely the next stage in a carefully planned 
procedure, a step which had been contemplated from the be- 
ginning. For our purpose it is enough to notice the broader 
appeal that this move made possible. Only a few could resign 
offices; students were after all but an infinitesimal fraction of 
the whole population; but every man, woman and child could 
wear country-made cloth and spurn the imported fabrics. The 
advantages to Indian mill-owners would be obvious and appre- 
ciation of them would doubtless swing over to the movement 
the support of a wealthy and powerful community. 

So began a remarkable boycott of foreign cloth. Wearing 
it was denounced asasin. Ten million rupees were collected, 
principally to popularize the charka or spinning wheel. Two 
million charkas in constant use, it was said, would mean swaraj, 
independence. In many of the principal cities great bonfires 
were made of English cloth. In some cases Gandhi himself, 
after suitable ceremonies, applied the torch. In the bazars 
pickets, sometimes in uniform, threatened those who sold 


1 [India in 1920, 


236 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vou XXXVIII 


the imported cloth with the reproaches of their country and 
not seldom with physical violence. Everywhere khaddar or 
homespun was proclaimed the only possible dress for patriots. 
An active agitation against the liquor traffic was linked with 
that for the boycott and lent to the political and economic 
movement a prestige derived from Indian morality and religion. 

This movement achieved a large measure of success and 
was responsible for an extraordinary diminution in India’s 
principal import. It brought with it, however, a burden of 
suffering. English cloth is better and cheaper than Indian. 
There are not mills enough in India to supply the normal 
demand and it is fatuous to suppose that home spinning 
and weaving can be revived on a nation-wide scale in a single 
year—or in several. Thus the burden of the boycott fell 
heavily on the poor. It is interesting to note that Mr. C. F. 
Andrews, an Englishman of saintly character if of somewhat 
eccentric views, a devoted friend of Gandhi and a passionate 
lover of India, whose delight it had been to go about in 
a native dress of kkaddar that Gandhi had given him, appeared 
before the National Congress at Ahmedabad in European 
dress and declared that he sought in this way to signalize 
‘his disapproval of the boycott and the bonfires. 

While the burnings of cloth were spectacular advertisements 
of Non-Cooperation, and the raising of the crore (10,000,000 ) 
of rupees was another, the real work of the movement was 
done far away from the cities and out of sight. While oppo- 
nents were exulting over its decline, doctrines of disaffection, 
legends of the Mahatma’s miraculous powers, prophecies of 
a glorious day soon to dawn, were diffusing through the vast 
rural population of India. An immense and highly efficient 
organization was developed. Bands of volunteers were formed 
to preach the new gospel of non-violence and khaddar. In 
many places the police and the petty officials were brushed 
aside and found themselves mere spectators of a government 
carried on without their advice or guidance. As the move- 
ment grew, “volunteers” in uniform drilled openly in the 
streets and squares of the large cities or paraded with banners 
while shouting the praise of Mahatma Gandhi. One could 


No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA G29 


not blame simple-minded villagers and peasants for believing, 
on the evidence of what they heard and saw, that the British 
Raj was indeed ended and the Gandhi Ra about to commence. 

The consequences which everyone but Gandhi knew were 
inevitable, duly appeared. Disorders in outlying districts be- 
came increasingly alarming. Finally, in southwest India, a 
sturdy, stupid, fanatical Mohammedan people, the Moplahs, 
broke into open rebellion. Alas for glowing eloquence upon 
the new Hindu-Moslem Unity! The Moplahs proved true to 
the traditions which have characterized militant Mohammedan- 
ism in India. Forced conversions, murder, torture, mutilation 
and worse, marked the progress of the rebellion. The Mop- 
lahs were brave fighters, the pursuit of small bands through a 
difficult country was hazardous and tedious, and it was many 
months before quiet was restored. 

When the Prince of Wales landed at Bombay, the occasion 
was made one for savage and bloody rioting in a section of the 
city. Not long afterward about a score of Indian policemen 
at Chauri Chaura became engaged in an altercation with a 
Hindu crowd. The altercation became a fight. The police 
were driven into the station house. A couple of guns kept a 
crowd of several thousand at bay for some time, but the am- 
munition was soon exhausted. The crowd then set the station 
house on fire. As the unfortunate men rushed from the burn- 
ing structure they were beaten to death with clubs or thrust 
back into the ames. Their charred bodies were ghastly testi- 
mony to the temper of “the mild Hindu” once roused. 
Gandhi’s son, as he viewed the sickening sight, was moved to 
write his father that here was a crime to be compared with the 
Amritsar massacre. 

Gandhi himself was horrified. He spoke of it as the third 
warning from God that his people were not yet ready for lib- 
erty. He imposed upon himself a five days’ fast. Yet, with 
a curious resilience which is difficult to understand and which 
has characterized him upon similar occasions before, he came 
back from his mourning and fasting more determined than ever 
to press on to a speedy decision. 

One step alone remained to be taken, the most momentous 


238 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor XXXVIII 


of all—‘ Civil Disobedience.” This meant the refusal of taxes, 
refusal to obey laws, refusal to perform any of the duties of 
citizens. It would mean acessation of government. Would 
it mean also anarchy and terror? Were the people ready? 
Could they be trusted to maintain order and sobriety in such 
trying circumstances and in face of the narsh repressive meas- 
ures that the Government would undoubtedly take. After 
long hesitation, it was resolved to try the experiment in a single 
section of the country that was believed to be peculiarly pre- 
pared for it. Before the plan could be put in force, however, 
Gandi was arrested and a critical chapter in Indian history 
was closed. 

For two years the Government had watched the growth of a 
movement openly professing to be aimed at its destruction. 
It had seen its authority weakening, its officers held up to 
public ignominy. It had hoped to meet propaganda with 
argument, but there was something ponderous, elephantine, in 
its procedure. Gandhi was a far more skilled manipulator of 
public opinion. Only the appeal to force was left. Reluct- 
antly and only at the last possible moment the Government 
decided to make that appeal. 

The Ali brothers were the first to be imprisoned; then, one 
after another the prominent leaders in all parts of India were 
arrested. Gandhi alone seemed to enjoy an inexplicable immu- 
nity. Indeed some of the hotter spirits among the Khilafat 
workers went so far as to accuse him of having been a Govern- 
ment agent from the beginning. This could not continue, 
however. Implacable and imperturbable, he continued his 
struggle against the British power until on the 11th of March 
he, too, fell victim.' 

The circumstances attending the arrest were congruous with 
all that had gone before. Gandhi had long expected it. He 


1Tt should be noted, however, that almost his last official activity was to oppose 
plans calling for the immediate inauguration of civil disobedience. 

An important section of the English press considered that his arrest just at this 
zime was typical of a certain ponderous stupidity in Government. It seemed that he 
was at last beginning to realize the peril of his movement and that there was hope he 
would guide it into safer channels, 


No. 2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 239 


had indeed calculated its time with considerable nicety. A few 
hours before it was to take place he was considerately notified. 
When the police appeared before his house, they were met 
with simple, quiet dignity. A few of his closest friends joined 
him in a hymn, a reading from the Gz/a, and a prayer. 
He took with him a few personal effects and went quietly 
to jail. 


Present Problems and Abiding Results 


“The story of the trial of Gandhi and his speech is to mea 
classic equal to a passage from the Gospels or from the Trial 
and Death of Socrates. And I am sure that it will go down to 
posterity as a piece of history more important than the rise of 
the British Empire”. So writes a highly cultured Englishman 
who, with peculiar abandon, is giving his life to service of the 
Indian people. Perhaps he is right. A simple yet majestic 
dignity marked the bearing of India’s spiritual emperor, as he 
confronted the might of the greatest earthly power of history. 
With sublime fortitude he accepted the sentence pronounced by 
a reluctant judge, acknowledging that it was reasonable and 
just. jp 
And yet, over the whole of India—relief! Relief to the 
harrassed government officials, as they realized that the chal- 
lenge of lawlessness and rebellion was at last accepted. Relief 
to thousands of perplexed and dismayed Europeans who 
for two years had watched with growing alarm the supine 
inaction of the Government before an ever more plainly vis- 
‘ble and ever more formidable menace of anarchy and _ blood- 
shed. Relief, I venture to think, to some at least of the 
“extremist leaders” who had played with matches and now 
stood aghast at the threatened conflagration. Relief, perhaps, 
to Gandhi himself. 

It is difficult to see what other course the Government could 
have taken. Gandhi himself named only one alternative—ab- 
dication. A formidable rebellion in southwest India had been 
crushed only after months of difficult guerilla warfare. 
‘National Volunteers” in uniform were parading the streets 
of all the larger cities, shouting that the British Raj was ended 


240 ; POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Voi. XXXVIII 


and the Gandhi Raj about to commence. In outlying districts 
the labor on the plantations and in the collieries was hampered 
and distracted. ‘There were grave apprehensions as to the 
loyalty of the army. Unrest was everywhere. Danger was 
everywhere. To have ignored longer the challenge of the 
Gandhi movement would indeed have been to abdicate. 

As Gandhi contemplated the prospect of his arrest, which he 
knew was inevitable, he addressed his followers in words that 
recall the saying of a Greater, “It is expedient for you that I 
go away”. He had summoned his people to a severe discipline 
of self-control, moral purification and toil; he had repeatedly 
told them that until they had put away servility, deceitfulness, 
hate, indolence, and assumed instead courage, honesty, love 
and industry, until they had eradicated “ untouchability ” from 
their social system, and until they had resumed cottage spin- 
ning and weaving on an immense scale, swaraj could never 
come. Yet, although not a single one of these conditions had 
been fulfilled, the current of political conflict had carried him 
on from stage to stage of his revolutionary program, until 
its ultimate phase, “civil disobedience”, had already been 
decreed. He must often have doubted, indeed he had said he 
did doubt, his people’s capacity for such a gospel, their readi- 
ness for the privileges and responsibilities of freedom. If he 
were imprisoned, tales of his miraculous powers and prophecies 
of the wonders he was to work would be discredited. His 
gospel would make its appeal on its spiritual worth alone. 
Men ceasing to look for an apocalyptic glory, a spectacular 
overturning of the ruling power, or any other magical attain- 
ment of swaraj, would give their attention and their effcrt 
to building the solid, if somewhat prosaic, foundations for the 
New India. The restraints of government upon outward activ- 
ities would only deepen spiritual energies. When it became 
apparent that violence and disorder could never win a physical 
kingdom, the spiritual kingdom would gain new meaning. So 
it was perhaps with a measure of relief that he greeted those 
who came to arrest him. 

In European circles the feeling was very different. ‘‘ Now 
we shall have peace,’ was the almost universal expression. 


No. 2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 241 


Europeans believe that Indians were never so well off as they 
are today. They believe that British rule is the greatest con- 
ceivable blessing to India. Dissatisfaction, the stirring of the 
masses from their customary apathy, are therefore always the 
work of wicked, malicious and deceitful agitators. Fortunately 
these are generally cowardly and are soon subdued by a show 
of force. The Gandhi movement had thrived only because 
the Government had allowed itself to appear helpless. Now 
that it had roused to determined action, unrest would soon 
disappear and the agitators would “come to heel.” For a 
time the people had hesitated in their loyalty, for it was 
not clear whether power lay with the British Government 
or with Gandhi. Now chat question was settled, things would 
go on as before. 

Will India “come to heel”? Will her people set themselves 
with determination to the long, grim, wearisome task of prepar- 
ing themselves for freedom? Or, a third possibility, will the 
revolution, deprived of Gandhi's spiritualizing and restraining 
influence, guided by lesser men, assume a violent character and 
plunge the country into the horrors of a civil war? 

We can only wait and see. Calcutta merchants or Assam tea 
planters are imperfectly qualified to judge the temper of ‘the 
Indian People”. The tourist or journalist who feeds upon 
extremist literature and thinks the eloquence therein means 
what it would mean if uttered by Americans, is not qualified at 
all. The Government itself does not know. It has its men of 
broad intelligence and comprehensive understanding ; but they 
are separated from the common people by ponderous routine 
and insurmountable barriers of official ritual. 

For the Non-Cooperation movement in its original form it is 
difficult to see any future. Its history has been one of failure 
at every stage. Government servants have not resigned their 
posts, nor eminent men their titles. ‘National Schools” have 
by no means replaced the former system of education. Home 
spinning and weaving have not been resumed on any large scale. 
Imports of foreign cloth, though they have diminished, have 
not nearly ceased. ‘ Untouchability ” has not been abolished. 
Hindu-Moslem unity has not been established. Not one of the 
avowed aims has been realized. 


242 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor. XXXVIII 


The fundamental and really devastating objection to Gandhi's 
whole program is that the Indian people are not remotely 
capable of such a revolution as he preached. The atrocities of 
the Moplah Insurrection or the ghastly outrage at Chauri 
Chaura are more reliable indexes to Indian character and feel- 
ing than Gandhi’s most notable utterances on “soul force”, 
love of enemies, or non-violence. During certain troubles 
at Chandpur the saintly C. F. Andrews addressed a meeting 
and pleaded against a threatened strike. The prestige which 
he enjoyed as an intimate friend of Gandhi and his own record 
of conspicuous and devoted service to the Indian people barely 
sufficed to obtain for him an indifferent hearing. The applause 
of the meeting was for a notorious ruffian who with appropriate 
gestures shouted, ‘ This right hand has killed ten men and I am 
ready to kill many more.” Into the story of the peculiarly in- 
sensate strike that followed there is no need to go. The inci- 
dent throws a flood of light upon the real temper of Gandhi's 
most vociferous followers; and such illustrations could easily be 
multiplied. 

The curious blending of religious idealism and _ political 
expediency which characterized the Non-Cooperation move- 
ment has appealed to every observer as its most striking aspect. 
I cannot but regard this as Gandhi’s disastrous blunder. A 
gospel such as his is only injured by close alliance with such a 
political agitation as developed. Suppose for a moment that 
Christ had made the center of His gospel the expulsion of the 
Romans from Judea! Suppose He had made the achievement 
of His aim within a few years the test of His success! The 
compromises necessitated by political conflict tended from the 
first to weaken Gandhi’s spiritual appeal. Followers were 
attracted and actuated by a variety of motives which did 
not contribute to the moral regeneration which was his real 
aim. Propaganda of the most virulent and unscrupulous char- 
acter grew up about his figure. He repeatedly expressed his 
disapproval of it and as often professed his own humility; but 
he would not or could not check it. 

As the idealism of Gandhi’s message suffered from its con- 
nection with a political agitation, so the political movement was. 


No.2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 243 


weakened by a lack of contact with the prosaic, every-day 
realities of Indian need. The movement was negative in name 
and character. Its emphasis was upon destruction and it 
lacked either sharply defined aims or a constructive program. 
One searches in vain for illuminating utterances on labor 
problems, education, sanitation, village betterment, or the 
form of government to be enjoyed once swaray is won. To 
questions on such points Gandhi would serenely reply that, 
once India was free, the awakened genius of her children could 
be trusted to solve all such problems. 

Certain outstanding characteristics of Gandhi’s activity are 
difficult to reconcile with that complete sincerity that has been 
universally acknowledged as his most admirable quality. It is 
difficult to understand his championship of Mohammedan 
ambitions except as an astute move to win Mohammedan 
support. It is hard to see how he could ignore the patent fact 
that Indian Mohammedans are interested in India only asa 
unit in Islam—a very different feeling from the passionate love 
of Hindus for the ‘“‘ Mother.” I have already noted the manner 
in which he pressed on from stage to stage of his revolutionary 
program, although not one of the conditions which he had laid 
down as indispensable to such progress was ever met. 4, He 
professed and based his action upon a faith in his people, 
in their spirituality, their self-control, their willingness to sacri- 
fice, that to anyone else appeared fatuous. 

All these, however, are explained by reference to the blind- 
ness of his intense patriotism. This limitation becomes of 
tragic significance, when we observe the lofty ideas and the 
failure to which it has led one of the world’s purest and most 
forceful personalities. It is one of the finest features of his 
character and teaching that he has attacked in the most deter- 
mined and vigorous manner the “curse of untouchability ”. 
So long as sixty million Indians are denied the elementary 
human rights, he has repeatedly told his people, India does not 
deserve freedom and will never win it. But against Hinduism 
as a whole he has said nothing. He glories in being a Hindu 
and idealizes hopelessly beyond reason the history and the 
character of his people. His reverence for India has led him 


244 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor XXXVIII 


to underestimate sadly, indeed to misunderstand, elements of 
western culture and life that would be of untold value to India. 
It has led him to seek a return to primitive simplicity instead 
of a pressing on to a mastery of present complexities. It has 
rendered him unable to perceive the weaknesses of his country- 
men or their incapacity for the revolution of which he dreamed. 
Thus he was led to attempt in a year or in two years a work 
which should have been left to the ages and to delude the 
people he loved so well with impossible promises of speedy and 
easy triumph. 

The weakness of Non-Cooperation will become increasingly 
obvious, as the glamor of Gandhi’s personality fades and as 
men turn from visions to face realities. There will always 
be the Moderate at hand with his insinuating whisper that all 
the concrete advantages reasonable men have any right to 
expect may be achieved through the legitimate constitutional 
agitation for which the ‘‘ Reforms” provide opportunity. In 
addition to being the easier course, constitutional agitation will 
offer the alluring prospect of easy victories and results which 
can be seen of all men. The Extremist following is so enor- 
mous, it is so skillfully and closely organized, that opposition 
in the elections need not be considered. 

Gandhi always regarded the ‘‘ Reforms” as an insidious 
temptation. They were for him the broad and pleasant way 
that, we are told, leads to destruction. Unquestionably they 
are the Government’s best reply to his attack. In so far 
as they afford opportunities for the effective expression of 
Indian opinion (and they do) and for influence upon Govern- 
ment policies (they have), they tend to make Non-Cooperation 
not only hazardous but unnecessary. The Government is of 
course fully alive to this fact and will spare no effort to prove 
that just such opportunities are offered. Less heroic souls than 
Gandhi will prefer an office to a cell. And indeed it can 
scarcely be a reproach to a politician or patriot that he finds a 
Council a more advantageous point from which to serve his 
country than a prison. 

So it seems possible that the majority of those who have 
hitherto formed the Non-Cooperation movement will “ rush” 


No. 2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 245 


the coming elections which until now they have attempted 
to boycott. Once in office they may wreck the ‘“ Reforms” 
by adopting such an obstructive policy as will make them 
unworkable; or they may put through really constructive legis- 
lation and accomplish much for the lasting good of India. The 
choice will show whether they are patriots or mischief-makers, 
statesmen or mere demagogues. A group of irreconcilables 
must indeed be reckoned with. Their fulminations against the 
existing order, however, will arouse less and less public interest. 
In time it is possible that Gandhi’s followers will become one 
of the innumerable sects of Hinduism. It is quite possible 
that there will be outbreaks of violence; but there is little 
reason to anticipate anything like a universal rising. Anything 
less than a determined revolt of all India will be futile. So at 
least the situation appears to a western mind, but it must be 
remembered that the Indian mind does not work along the 
lines to which ours have been accustomed. Anything is possible. 

Some things, however, admit of no dispute. Some things we 
can be sure will never again be as they have been. These 
changes may be loss or gain; but changes they are. The full 
significance of Gandhij’s life and work must be left for the 
future to reveal; but some real and abiding results are already 
apparent. 

The writer of an article entitled “Gods or Brothers,” which 
appeared in Everybody's of May, I9Il, tells an amusing story 
of two American travelers in India, who were much perplexed 
at what seemed to them their resemblance to some important 
personages in the land. Wherever either went, guards and 
police saluted them, perfect strangers salaamed with deep 
respect. It was the same in all cities. For whom were they 
mistaken? Some very great man indeed it must be. It was 
puzzling enough. In time however, they learned that the 
salutes and salaams were for them not as individuals but as 
members of the white race. It was white prestige. 

The wide-reaching significance of this “ prestige,” the pictur- 
esque deeds of daring that won it, the integrity of character 
that earned it, the good or evil of it, we need not discuss ; for 
it is no more. A show of respect is indeed still kept up, but in 


246 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY [Vor XXXVIII 


many subtle ways the bearing of the brown man to the white 
has changed. It is visible on every hand—in the press, in 
labor movements, in the contacts of daily life. 

Many factors have contributed to this result. The Great 
War with its accompanying burdens of taxation and high 
prices, the disasters that befell the Allied armies, the awfulness 
of the slaughter and devastation, America’s part in the struggle 
and her record in the Philippines, have all given occasion for 
intense thought. More important has been the spread of 
education through universities and schools and especially 
through the Press. It is significant that my servant was anxious 
to get my views upon the cultivation of jute as compared with 
the growing of rice, that he watched the progress of the 
Genoa Conference with keen attention, and that he liked to 
supplement the carefully censored news of my English paper 
with bits of his own upon conditions in Europe or Asia Minor. 
It was significant not because it complicated my domestic 
arrangements (fortunately it did not), but because in this in- 
terest and alertness to the news of the day my servant was 
typical of the new India. Such a range of information, such 
freedom of inquiry, does not furnish the soil on which 
“prestige” can flourish. 

When we speak of education, however, we must not forget 
that it has been English education. There is a social dynamite 
in English thought and institutions. It was as champions. 
of English rights that our forefathers won American liberty. 
Indian students of English history cannot fail to find in it 
stimulus and guidance for their own patriotic aspirations. No 
amount of Toryism among British officials, no assumptior by 
individuals of the manners or prerogatives of the oriental 
despots they have replaced, no stupid adherence to “ classical” 
education upon the English model, can forever confine the 
explosive energies of English political idealism. To any act 
of tyranny or oppression the unanswerable rebuke is that it. 
is not British: and this rebuke is more potent than machine 
guns or artillery. 

Nor should it be forgotten that Britain herself contributed 
deliberately to the destruction of her “ prestige”. When India 


No. 2] REVIEW OF THE GHANDI MOVEMENT IN INDIA 247 


sent her army to France and assisted in checking the Ger- 
man rush, British gratitude ran high. In all quarters it was 
felt that after such sacrifice and service India could no longer 
be a mere possession but must be drawn into a close partner- 
ship of mutual respect and affection. The task of making this 
gratitude effectual fell to the hand of Mr. Montagu, Secretary 
of State for India, and the Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford. With 
the ‘ Reforms”, the result of their labors, it is easy to find 
fault; but the fundamental idea, the ultimate aim, is magnifi- 
cent. The only features which we can pause to note here are 
the provisions for the transfer of certain departments to /udian 
officers, the gradual Indianization of the Services, and the 
great enlargement of the powers of representative assemblies. 
By these means it is hoped to educate for free and responsible 
government a people three times as numerous as our own, in a 
country as large as all of Europe west of Russia. Already 
there has been an Indian governor of a province. High 
English officials yield to the authority of their Indian superiors. 
Indians address you with a freedom which unfamiliarity and 
awkwardness make you sometimes mistake for rudeness. Labor- 
ers strike, servants leave your employ with a jaunty careless- 
ness that is at least disconcerting. Whether you find it dismay- 
ing or inspiring depends upon your point of view. And 
so race prestige is gone forever. 

With the disappearance of race prestige (military, physical, 
economic prestige remain), probably as a corollary of it, has 
come a consciousness of the power that lies in united action. 
The Hindu-Moslem breach has not been closed; but that 
under Gandhi’s inspiration men have grown accustomed to 
think of a national unity at all is a fact of tremendous import. 

On a lower plane, though perhaps of more immediate inter- 
est, must be noted the multiplying of strikes, the spread of 
unionism, the appearance of a labor problem. On the devel- 
opment of the labor movement in India, which at bottom 
is only a new consciousness of power, vast issues depend which 
reach out far beyond India and which help to make India one 
of the most fascinating problems of our time. Cheap labor 
available in immense quantities is just as real a field for capital- 


248 POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY 


istic exploitation as a rich deposit of coal or gold or oil. At 
one time men saw visions of a great migration of capital 
from western lands to India and China. There is not, however, 
the same certainty about labor that is characteristic of a mineral 
deposit. Moreover the powerful labor parties in the west will 
have something to say. British labor at least is well organized, 
politically powerful, and fully awake to the possibility of 
oriental competition. Every stirring of Indian unionism, every 
agitation for increased wages or shortened hours, will be 
watched with keen intelligence and sympathy. Stimulus, suid- 
ance, political support will be freely given. America and the 
Dominions may exclude Asiatics from their soil but they 
will not thereby escape the competition of oriental labor. 
Even tariffs will not provide an impregnable defense. It iS 
a subtler move, and a nobler one, to raise the conditions and 
the price of oriental labor to some sort of equality with 
the standards that prevail in western countries. Such a policy 
may not be avowed by any labor party. There may be no 
conscious aim of this nature. Yet powerful forces tend in 
this direction and are bound to have their effect. 


Beside vanished “prestige” and a new consciousness of 
power in united action we must realize also that there is 
throughout the land a vision of a new and glorified India. 
The vision lacks details, it is not sharply focused, it is blurred 
and confused; but a vision there is. Perhaps students and 
teachers in the universities dwell most upon it; but workers in 
offices and factories, the millions of inarticulate peasants, all 
have had glimpses of it. Some day that vision may become 
distinct. Some day a greater than Gandhi may make it real. 

W. H. ROBERTS 


LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY 


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